The Integration Project
by TheBrokenQuill1992
Summary: The war is over. The muggle and magical worlds are slowly melding. The transition will be hard, but who better to help them along than the Boy-Who-Lived? This is yet another RtB!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Integration Project

The boy was coming back here, thought Petunia Dursley peering through her shades into Mr. and Mrs. Lewis' vegetable garden, well not so much a boy anymore. He was not yet thirty but was married with three small children, she remembered the invitation she had gotten to their wedding. The woman's name was something vaguely Italian, Gianna or the like. To think it was actually her precious Dudders that called him here. Dudley had said he wanted truly to know what had gone on that year they spent with those people.

Though she no longer called magical people freaks she still thought they were weird and didn't have a place in polite society. She would do this however as she had always done everything for Dudley's sake.

"I've got Lily and Albus, love" called Harry Potter from his spot by the fireplace. "Now where is James and Teddy so we can go?"

"I've got them dear, they were in the garden flying," called Ginny from the kitchen. She came in with Teddy by one ear, James by the other. "Do either of you remember me asking you NOT to get filthy before we go?" she asked exasperatedly. Teddy who though only twelve was quite a bit taller than the tiny Mrs. Potter and nearly bent double by the ear she was gripping.

"Umm well I might recall something of that nature occurring but I forget the exact wording of it all." said Teddy straightening up and rubbing his ear where Ginny had gripped him.

Ginny sighed and tried to scrub James' cheek free of dirt. Harry tried not to grin from behind her back for all her disagreements with her mother it was shocking how similar they could be at times.

When she had finished scrubbing her son's cheek to pink cleanliness she turned to Harry, "Sweetheart are you sure you want to do this?" said Ginny concern etched on every corner of her pretty face. Harry leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips.

"EWW!" cried Teddy and James who was still rubbing his cheek from his mother's wipe down. Lily and Albus giggled. Harry rolled his eyes at the children.

"Yes, why put all of Hermione's hard work to waste?"

"I know but..." she trailed off.

"I'll be fine, Gin" said Harry reassuringly. "Now c'mon we'll be and you know we'll never hear the end of if we don't hurry."

"Oh alright," she mumbled. "You always say that." She eyed his various scars across his forearms where he'd rolled his sleeves. With a sigh she usher the older children off to the minivan as Harry picked up Lily and Albus. They were off to Privet Drive.

Petunia heard the car pull up from where she stood seasoning the roast. "Vernon please get the door!" Vernon Dursley heaved himself off the sofa where he'd been watching football with his son, Dudley and his sister Marge, Dudley's wife Meredith was in the kitchen staying out of Petunia's way and listening to her fuss about how thin the children were. Stupid boy interrupting my game, he thought meanly.

Though it had been over a decade since Harry Potter had been anywhere near Privet Drive Vernon Dursley still liked to blame him for things. He remembered getting an invitation to Harry's wedding and thinking it was probably just a shotgun wedding anyway for some bimbo the boy managed to knock up.

After several minutes he finally made it to the door - he'd put on quite a bit more weight in recent years - and opened the door.

What he found on his doorstep was far from a slag. There stood a stunning woman in her late twenties. She was curvaceous and petite, with bright red hair pulled back into an elegant chignon held in place by a delicate diamond clip that was definitely real. Her clothes were simple but obviously expensive, a dark blue sun dress with cream polka dots, and white sling back sandals.

Vernon blinked, "Hello," said Ginny. Vernon blinked again.

"Er... Hello," said Vernon who just realized he'd been staring.

"Gin darling, I have Al and Tiger," said Harry from the van a child in each arm.

Vernon looked up past Ginny to see his nephew Harry Potter coming up the walk with a little boy clinging to his back and a tiny girl in his arms.

Vernon was once again shocked, first by the scars, from the scar following the line of Harry's jaw to large burn scars on his forearms they all looked old. The next thing that shocked him was how tall and muscular Harry was, true he was not buff by any standard but the scrawny frame was long gone, he was lean and supple the body of a runner or dancer. He wasn't overly tall it seemed he had just missed six foot but his confident easy air made him seem even taller, powerful. His clothes fit perfectly, they didn't hang from him in tatters, only serving to define his his well-muscled body. His glasses were not the awful black coke bottles that were perpetually taped, they were still round but much thinner rimmed in gold, they seemed to define his exotic eyes even more and didn't make his eyes look too big for his face.

This was a very different Harry Potter. Yes, this Harry Potter would be very hard to bully indeed.

Harry couldn't help it he grinned at his uncle's amazed expression. He was a bit surprised to see he was now taller than Uncle Vernon. Vernon had aged rather badly. He resembled a walrus more than ever, his hair was thinning only emphasizing the big bushy mustache, streaked with white, and he impossibly seemed fatter.

Harry wondered what Aunt Petunia looked like.

"Well come in then boy, before the neighbors see," said Vernon gruffly. "Mind those brats wipe their feet." This was the wrong thing to say.

"Vernon, I came here on the request of your wife and son, but make no mistake I don't have to be here or answer to you. While I am here I expect you to be respectful of my wife and children, will not tolerate anyone speaking harshly to or about them." Harry had not yelled or spoken harshly, indeed his tone had been pleasant but there was a definite chill in the air around him.

Vernon spluttered for a moment before stepping aside, wondering if Harry worked for the weirdos mafia, still staring at the amount of scars.

Harry lead the way into the house.

Number Four Privet Drive hadn't changed in the slightest. There was the sickly pink sofa, the boarded up fire place, the too clean carpet, the faint smell of bleach, the plastic feel to the atmosphere.

"Petunia, the b- he's here," Vernon shouted from the hall.

Petunia wiped her hands on her apron took it off and set it on a hook next to the stove. Patting her bun and checking her reflection in her compact she went to greet her nephew. There he stood in her hall, a stranger.

The familiar things were the the wild blue-black hair and the piercing green eyes, and even those were altered. The eyes though sparkling with mirth, looked too old and world-weary for such a young unlined face, and the hair had been cut to a reasonable length. Then she took in the people he'd brought with him. A beautiful red-head who was obviously his wife, a tiny girl not a day over two with wild red curls that were trying to escape their ribboned confines. A sturdy boy on the brink of puberty with Harry's eyes and hair, but surely Harry was too young to be the boy's father. A small boy who looked like a carbon copy of Harry at that age, and another small boy with dark hair, and his mother's brown eyes and freckles.

What she had meant to say was "hello" but what she said instead was; "I thought you only had three children."

"Hello, Aunt Petunia." said Harry. He raised an eyebrow at her inquiry.

" Surely you're too young for," she said nodding at Teddy.

Harry's eyes widened and turning to look at Teddy he'd become so used to his godson's changing appearance that he hardly noticed anymore. "Oh, Teddy's adopted."

"But-"

"Oh and he's a metamorphmagus, which means he can change his appearance at will." explained Harry.

"Aunt Petunia this is my wife, Ginerva, and our other kids James, Albus, and Lily," he said indicating each of them in turn. She stiffened a little at the last name.

"Well come on, Dudley and Marge are in the den, and can meet Dudley's wife Meredith."

They followed behind her, into the living area. There on the sofa was Aunt Marge, who had aged worse than Vernon and a man Harry vaguely recognized as Dudley.

Dudley had the look of a powerful man gone to seed, he had a slight paunch, but the watery blue eyes and dark blond hair were familiar. What really threw Harry off were the large pair of horn-rimmed glasses that seem make his eyes look even smaller.

"Hey there Dud, how've you been?"

Dudley looked around. "Bloody hell, Harry you look great!"

Harry chuckled awkwardly, "Thanks."

Ginny gazed around at the surgically clean house and decided she loathed every inch of the place. She could see why Harry hated it here, she remembered when she and Harry went shopping for furniture when they first got married. She hadn't liked the displayed home sets because they didn't feel like they belonged in a home. This house felt the same way, false.

Harry had awkwardly introduced her and the children to his "relatives", the only decent ones seemed to be Dudley and Meredith.

"Oooooo Harry where the did you find her," Dudley had said appreciatively, "she's gorgeous."

"Well Dud, you remember the guys who blew up the fireplace?"

Dudley stared around at Ginny.

"Yup," said Harry. "Their sister," said Harry cheerfully.

Then there was that awful woman with that vicious beast. It made her want to reconsider getting the children a dog.

"So, you actually found someone who'll have you," boomed Marge, peering beadily at Ginny. Ginny's back had went ridged at that.

"Excuse me? What exactly is that supposed to mean?" she had snapped at the gargantuan woman.

"Oh, spitfire is she? Figures you'd want a feisty woman. Not good for homemaking."

"I like spitfire and feisty just fine," Harry said smirking. She blushed knowing what he was implying. Thankfully it had gone over the old woman's head.

"Harry, really you are the limit," she told him. Ten years of marriage and he could still set her off kilter like that, well that not she couldn't do the same. She sighed as they were led to the love seat opposite Dudley and Meredith.

Dudley was amazed at what his cousin had become. "Wow you've really changed Harry."

He'd been trying to get in contact with Harry for the past twelve years but had been stymied to find an address or phone number. Now he realized looking at his cousin Harry had an air of command and importance, he doubted Harry actually noticed what commanding figure he struck. That coupled with the expensive clothing, Dudley for all his not being "the brightest Crayola in the pack" knew a man like this would not be listed in a phone book.

"Harry are we finally going to hear about what happened when you left?" asked Dudley.

"Yeah you are I'm gonna tell all bout it and I'll start from the beginning, or at least we'll read from the beginning."

"What do you mean?" asked Meredith.

"Well you remember how you found me?" asked Harry. Dudley nodded remembered the Hermione Weasley woman that helped him connect to Harry.

"Yeah," said Dudley.

"Well, she took my thoughts and memories and transfigured them into books that we will be reading."

"Ahh I see," said Dudley not understanding at all. "Err... Harry where exactly are these books?" Seeing Harry's arms full of kids but no books and Ginny's tiny purse didn't look as if it could hold a book of any size.

"Oh yeah," said Harry. He smiled and reached into the pocket of his black slacks and pulled out seven books that couldn't have possibly fit.

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces Harry chuckled. "Magic remember."

Meredith had always assumed Dudley had meant his cousin was a magician or illusionist when he said Harry was a wizard, but she had just seen real magic. It was incredible really. Well that's one mystery down, she thought. Though it seemed magic like everything was dangerous too, she mused looking at all the scars on Harry. She wondered if she'd find out how he got them, she thought it would be rude to ask outright.

So, thought Petunia, he is officially one of them. He survived that war those people were in. Her thoughts of course turned unwillingly toward the long dead Lily Potter née Evans. He made it and Lily didn't. "We can start while the roast is in the oven," she said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. It wouldn't do to loose composure now.

Before anyone could take a seat there was a knock on the door. Petunia went to answer it, "Hello Petunia, we saw you had company and wondered if they'd like a bit of pound cake." It was Mrs. Lewis from number six with her husband, and Mr. Roberts from across at number seven. Petunia quickly hid her glare bunch of nosy busy-bodies. She stepped aside to let them in, "My nephew and his family," she said stiffly.

She saw them raise their eyebrows as one. She knew what they must be thinking not that nephew, not the dangerous hardened criminal.

She returned to the den with the small group peering around her elbow to catch a glimpse of Harry. "Vernon we have more guest," she sniffed disdainfully.

Their eyes widened as the took in the scene, there was a scarred man with a faint resemblance to Harry Potter sitting close to a pretty red-haired woman. He bounced a tiny girl on his knee and two small boys leaned on his legs, a pre-teen boy was in an armchair was teasing the two other boys, and the man was laughing at something the lovely woman said in a disgruntled whisper. They look the epidemy of a suburban family.

Surely this was not Harry Potter.

"Well, hello" said Mr. Roberts. Harry stood tucking his Tiger Lily under one arm stretching out a hand to shake with the other. He tried not to show his amusement at the man's shocked expression. After greeting each person in turn he turned to Petunia who nodded jerkily what he knew he was about to say would irk her to no end.

"Well, as you all know I am Harry Potter, and I am a wizard."

Silence.

Harry sighed and pulled out his wand, "Accio wine!" The bottle wine they'd brought shot across the room and into his outstretched hand. Then he Summoned ten glasses from the kitchen and the wine opened itself poured into the glasses and floated to each person accordingly. The new guest gaped and the Dursleys looked unnerved, but everyone silently accepted.

In the end it was Lily who broke the awkward silence. "Daddy," she giggled, "put me down I'm dizzy." Harry blinked he hadn't realized the way he had been holding his daughter had the blood rushing to her pig-tailed head.

"Dudley, you wanted more information on what happened after I left and lucky times are changing or I wouldn't be able to give it you." As he spoke he conjured some comfortable Queen Anne chairs patterned in silver and royal blue paisley, encouraging the still shell-shocked Muggles to sit. "After we won The Battle of Hogwarts , the War was pretty much over. We started changing laws in our community to make certain no one took advantage of our world again. Filling in loopholes and just plain trashing others.

We've relaxed the Statute of Secrecy and we're slowing integrating into Muggle, that is to say non-magical society. It was tough fighting the changes some of these laws as old rich family have a hard time letting go of tradition. With the influx of children from non-magical and half/half families, the amount of non-magic people finding out about magic is on the rise therefore we are taking steps to educate both sides about their neighbors. You though you do not have any magical contacts , save me are going to be our first of many to be educated."

Meredith shuffled off toward the kitchen to put the pound cake the Lewis' had brought on the counter. She came to sit back down by Dudley. "Would you like to start us off on your quest for information Dudley?"

" Er...sure."

Harry handed him the first and smallest book, the cover was grey with a picture of a blood-red stone on it; "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," he mumbled looking at the spine of the book. He opened the book to chapter one and read out: "Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived".


	2. Chapter 2

The Boy Who Lived

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

Dudley swallowed, that first paragraph let him know him know that they were starting at The Beginning, when Harry came to them. He hoped this book wouldn't show him in too bad of a light but he knew they would. He wasn't that person anymore and he had work hard to become what he thought of as a decent man, but he knew reading this book would be almost as bad as that dementor attack all those years ago. He was glad he'd opted for a babysitter tonight instead of bringing his kids.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

Mrs. Lewis twitched a little, she was coming out of her shock a bit. _How rude,_ she thought. Petunia really was a nosy busy-body, little did she know Petunia Dursley thought the same of her. She had an inkling that Petunia had lied about the origins of her nephew, she was finally going to find out if she was right. Wizard indeed.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"Think Jamie and Al might be finer boys," said Harry proudly ruffling their hair. Ginny smiled, Harry was such a wonderful father he absolutely doted on his boys. She didn't mind that it was mostly up to her to keep them from being spoiled rotten, Harry being the big pushover that he was. It was cute in a bittersweet sort of way knowing why he adored their children so much.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

Petunia sighed, _Lily I'm sorry_. She knew if Lily was alive her sister would murder her for the way she had acted. She gave an irritated little shrug. _But of course Lily would hate me_, came the bitter thought. _And Lily would be right, Lily had always been right_.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.**

"They would say 'What kind, decent people.' " murmured Ginny as Al climbed up onto her lap to play with her string of pearls.

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"Ah, so this is where it starts," said Meredith in her singsongy voice. Harry turned to look at her she reminded him a bit of Luna. "Yes, it starts here," said Harry.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house.**

Dudley rolled his eyes.

**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

Harry smiled at the mention of his old professor, she could be so amusing considering she was such a serious woman. He chuckled to himself as remembered the after his first son's birth, she had threatened to resign when she discovered they'd named Jamie after two of the biggest troublemakers sans the Weasley twins Hogwarts had ever seen.

"What's so funny," snapped Marge who'd heard him laugh. Everyone turned to look.

"Oh just remembering the day Ginny and I named James."

Everyone shrugged not seeing why this was amusing or what it had to with the book. Dudley continued.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.**

"Don't worry Vernon," said Harry. "Most of us have taken up Muggle fashions nowadays, it's only the older generations who still wear robes and kids attending Hogwarts."

Vernon twitched irritably, _Bunch of weirdos_, he thought.

**He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something ... yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

"I remember this day," said Mr. Roberts. "There were so many owls, I'd never seen one before that day, it happened again some years back."

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"That's no way to treat your underlings," said Mr. Roberts crossly, he worked at Grunnings as well but not in the same department as Vernon.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard -"**

**"- yes, their son, Harry -"**

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind.**

"Vernon," said Petunia,"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Vernon flush purple, the idiot boy was of course getting him in trouble.

**He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking ... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry.**

"I was the only Potter in the Wizarding world for nearly two decades," Harry told Vernon. The others looked surprised.

"Well we fixed that problem quickly," quipped Ginny. She smirked as Harry blushed pink and embarrassed. It was fun to embarrass him, he really was adorable when he blushed like that.

Dudley laughed, it was funny to see his cousin who gave the unmistakable air of badass blush like a school girl.

_Just like his mother,_ thought Petunia. Lily had been easily embarrassed and quick to blush.

**Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"Like I'd marry anyone named Harold," came another of Ginny's quips.

"Gee thanks, love," mumbled Harry, rubbing the back of his neck once again embarrassed.

"You're welcome," she answered sweetly. Everyone laughed.

Marge and Vernon harrumphed, that boy should tell his wife to hold her tongue. It was not a woman's place to say such things.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that ... but all the same, those people in cloaks ...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

"Who's You-Know-Who?" questioned Mrs. Lewis

"That monster was born Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he reformed himself as Lord Voldemort." said Ginny her voice hard.

Mrs. Lewis raised her eyebrows, what had this man done to make Harry's wife say his name like it was some disgusting swear. She decided to listen more avidly

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesteryesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

"Dad was that grandpa?" asked Teddy quietly.

Harry flinched, _All my fault_. "Yeah it was kiddo," said Harry softly. No one besides Ginny noticed Harry's reaction and she knew better than to speak, he'd only blame himself.

"Excuse me," said Mr. Roberts to Harry. "If you're his father why are you so young surely you're not old enough? And I thought all your family save Petunia died?"

"Teddy is adopted, Mr. Roberts, and that was his maternal grandfather Ted Tonks on that broadcast he died before Teddy was born." said Ginny.

Mr. Roberts nodded at the information.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters ...**

The muggles in the room were itching to know what happened to the Potters. It was obvious to them now that Petunia lied about the car crash, but what was the real story. The suspense was killing them.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

Petunia sighed. Maybe she had been wrong to do that to Lily, after all she had tried to keep in contact, yet she, Petunia had pushed the sister she missed father away.

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls ... shooting stars ... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today ..."**

**"So?" snapped Mrs.**

**"Well, I just thought ... maybe ... it was something to do with ... you know ... her crowd."**

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

"That's not a cat."

Everyone blinked.

Who had said that?

"I don't what it is but it's no cat."

It came from the spot beside Dudley. Meredith had spoken up, "It isn't a cat is it Harry?"

She reminded so inexplicably of Luna that he almost said; "No, Luna." "Er, no Meredith she isn't."

He had said she. Did that mean what they thought he meant? But it couldn't be, could it? There was no way that cat was actually a _human_.

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did ... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind. ... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them. ...**

**How very wrong he was.**

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"I agree dear," said Dudley a little late on the uptake. "I'm not sure what it is but it is most definitely not a cat."

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

The invisible knife that had imbedded itself in Harry's chest since the mention of Ted Tonks gave a vicious twist.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"He most certainly wouldn't be welcome," sniffed Mrs. Lewis snobbishly. She'd never heard of anyone so garish in all her life.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

"Known what?" queried Petunia before she could stop herself.

"That Professor McGonagall would follow him" said Harry.

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

"Wow," said Mr. Roberts. He was awed and a little frightened to that there were people in the world with this kind of power.

**He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley,**

"My eyes are not beady," snapped Petunia.

**they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"You magic people, I mean wizards can turn into animals?" questioned Marge curtly.

"Very rarely," answered Ginny just as stiff.

"**How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

Dudley couldn't help it he snickered loudly. They spoke as if cats turning into people was an everyday thing. Then Dudley reminded himself that in this world it was.

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

Ginny sniffed angrily too a little boy had just had his family ripped away from him and they had danced in the streets like it was an American Mardi Gras celebration. Sometimes wizards had no common sense. She suspected it was the inbreeding but she hoped this melding of the worlds would fix that problem.

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it.**

**Flocks of owls ... shooting stars. ... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"_Eleven years_," repeated Dudley. This community had suffered that long, and longer according to Harry, under that kind of tyranny.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who**

"If this man's name is Tom or what was it- oh yes Voldemort -then why are they calling him You-Know-Who?" asked Mr. Roberts.

"Because they are frightened, completely terrified of what happened to their friends and families could happen to them. They didn't know who to trust where to turn. This one man had run amok with his magic and world suffered horribly for it," Harry's explanation was strained like every word caused him pain.

Mr. Roberts was sorry he asked, but he had a feeling from the way Harry spoke he'd known Tom Riddle well.

**seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?"**

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"I love lemon drops!" piped up Al.

"We know Al," said James rolling his eyes. Neither he or Lily paid much attention to the adults, they were bored. Albus' love of books had him paying wrapt attention however, and it was a book about his hero, Daddy.

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.**

"Why doesn't she like lemon drops, Daddy?" asked Albus.

Harry smiled, "I don't know,son."

**"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

"Why was this Voldemort fellow frighten of a feeble old man?" asked Mrs. Lewis .

"Albus Dumbledore was a very powerful wizard, far from a feeble old man. Not to mention the extreme amount of influence he had over Wizarding Britain," said Harry.

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

**"It's lucky its dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"Ew," Ginny wrinkled her nose. Harry laughed at her expression thinking it was charming the way she did that.

"You know he didn't mean it like that Gin."

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

The muggles leaned forward in their seats. Ginny snuggled into Harry's side knowing what was coming, and leaning her forehead against his soothingly letting him know it was okay.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead."**

_I knew it_, thought Mrs. Lewis. _Petunia's a liar, wait until I tell the rest of the street._

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James ... I can't believe it ... I didn't want to believe it ... Oh, Albus ..."**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know ... I know ..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on.**

The muggles were surprised there was more. They listened closer still.

**"That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potters' son, Harry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"What villain is this? What kind of sick person goes after a child!" cried Mr. Roberts disturbed.

**"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done ... all the people he's killed ... he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding ... of all the things to stop him ... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly.**

_That old man was wrong,_ thought Dudley. This was the worst place for any child both him and Harry had been damaged by there time here, Harry much more so than him.

**"His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

**Dudley remembered what that Hestia had said, the great position he held in the anti-Voldemort movement. He didn't it a good thing for people to put their lives in the hands of one child. Not good at all.**

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk!**

_Famous for something so horrid,_ thought Mr. Lewis.

**Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

The muggles all looked scandalized. Harry grinned at what was now his bike, he'd promised it to Teddy when he came of age, seeing as he, Harry hadn't really had time to go out on it anymore.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

The knife in Harry's heart dug a bit deeper.

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

Ginny smiled she'd seen Harry's baby pictures and he'd been adorable.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Everyone looked at Harry who shifted in his seat. "Can I see it?" asked Mr. Roberts.

The was only curious and he was being quite polite. So though he really didn't want to Harry pushed the hair back from his face and Mr. Roberts approached.

**"Is that where - ?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

Harry, Albus, and James laughed. Ginny rolled her eyes. The muggles smiled hesitantly.

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

**"Yes, yes, its all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"I understand these people thought they were doing what was best for you, but surely they could have waited until the next day to bring you here. That way they could have explained to Petunia better than some letter. You could have gotten sick or someone else could have taken you," said Mr. Roberts concernedly.

Harry simply shrugged.

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'd best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"It's a wonder they didn't wake the whole street with that racketing around out there!" Vernon said loudly.

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

"Oh Dad has lots of good luck!" said James.

"Nope I don't Jamie," said Harry. "I just have luck both good and bad."

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous,**

_Too bad it didn't stay that way_, thought Harry. His fame really was awful.

**not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley. ... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**


	3. Chapter 3

Dudley finished the chapter with an expression of slight awe. "I always wondered how you'd gotten here."

"Daddy, you were a pretty baby," lisped Lily as she stuck her tiny thumb in her mouth.

Harry blinked down at his daughter, slightly embarrassed but felt warmth in his chest. "Umm... Thank you, Tiger Lily." Ginny smirked and Dudley chuckled.

"Yes dear, you were a pretty baby," Ginny said trying to smother her laughter as Harry glanced her way. She mostly succeeded, but her eyes still sparkled with suppressed mirth.

"Daddy, Mummy said you '_were_' pretty how come you're not pretty anymore?" asked Albus giggling. Meredith smiled dreamily at the child, and Dudley chuckled again. Mr. Roberts chuckled too, Mr. Lewis smiled behind his wife's back, and even Petunia's lips twitched. Harry was thoroughly mortified.

When everyone had calmed down, and he had stopped blushing Harry asked who would like to read next. Mrs. Lewis volunteered, it wasn't because she was genuinely interested in what happened to Harry, she just wanted to know what else Petunia had lied about.

Dudley handed the book to Mrs. Lewis.

Petunia went off to check the roast and potatoes.

The muggles had become curious to what Harry actually did as a wizard, to afford such luxurious things.

"What do you do then boy?" said Vernon who doubted the boy actually had a job. _Probably just living off those freaky friends of his_, he thought meanly.

"I work in magical law enforcement. I'm an Auror, the equivalent of MI9, and MI17 all lumped together. I've been Head of Department for the past five years," said Harry a little stiffly.

Vernon would never admit it but he was quite impressed even if it was a position in the freak government it was a high paying one, of obvious prestige.

Before Petunia made it back to the den there came yet another knock upon the door.

"I'll get it, Dad," said Dudley.

Dudley opened the door and on the doorstep was a rather plain looking woman in her forties. She wore a pale blue dress patterned with daisies, her hair was pulled back in an unflattering ponytail, and wore coral pink lipstick that did nothing for her thin mouth. "Hello, I'm looking for Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter. I was their primary school teacher." She said this in a high chirping voice that made Dudley want to rub his ears. Dudley realized who it was a second later.

"Ms. Green, what are you doing here?"

The woman's eyes bugged so far out they looked in danger of falling out of her head. "Good Lord," she exclaimed. "Dudley Dursley is that you?!"

Dudley rubbed the back of his neck, he'd gotten that response a lot over the years. It seemed he would never quite escape the reputation of his youth.

"Er... Yeah."

He invited her in, "This was the last address I had for either you or your cousin and the school sent me out to invite my former class to a reunion."

The room looked up as Ms. Green entered,"Well you see before we had James I played professional sports. I was quite good, but after we had Albus I had to quit. With two small children we couldn't both have away jobs so I took up a post at the newspaper as a sports columnist-" Ginny halted her in her conversation with Mrs. Lewis, who seemed to disapprove of female sportsmanship in any case, to see who had entered the room. She stared critically at their new guest deciding she would do well enough.

They sat her down and explained what was going on.

"So, let me get this straight," started Ms. Green. "You're a wizard now," she said indicating Harry who nodded, "and your wizard government wants to close the gap between the magical and non-magical communities? And in order to do this we need to read about your part in a war that ended twelve years ago?"

"Um-yeah." said Harry. He could tell Ms. Green thought they were all mad. She had grabbed the bottle of wine and poured a large glassful. Well, thought Harry, I suppose I'd need a drink too if I was her, it is a lot to take in. In the end Ginny had to take out her wand and levitated a giggling and squealing Lily who was most disappointed when the ride was over, Ginny had sent her flying twice around the room; Vernon had shouted terrified protests all the while. Ginny, of course, ignored him.

Finally believing Ms. Green sat gaping at the lot of them, slowly processing and taking it all in.

"When my aunt finishes checking on dinner we will continue," said Harry. Dudley then proceeded to recap the last chapter to her. "I'm going to need a lot of aspirin and vodka after all this," she muttered after taking in the new information with her thin lips pursed.

When Petunia returned to the living room Lily wiggled down from her father's lap, skipped over and tugged at Petunia's ugly salmon dress. Petunia stared down at the child,"What do you want?" she said impatiently.

Lily smiled sweetly up at Petunia, her brown eyes big and innocent. "May I have a glass of water, please Tuney?" she'd been polite just like Daddy taught her.

Petunia nearly flinched. She knew the child probably just couldn't pronounce her name properly, but that old nickname sent her reeling back in time; to another Lily who had looked up to her with that same expression of innocence.

"Yes, yes you may," said Petunia a little off. She bustled off to fetch the child's request, not really sure why she was acquiescing at all. Perhaps she wanted another chance to do right by her sister, or maybe it just an automatic response to such a familiar face.

Harry was surprised Petunia had done as his daughter had asked of her, he'd thought for a moment that he would need to intercede. He exchanged a glance with Ginny, both thinking the same thing, maybe there was hope for his aunt after all.

Petunia returned, she handed the glass to Lily with trembling finger as if scared the small girl would bite her hand. When she seated herself beside Vernon she let out an almost inaudible breath.

Once everyone was settled if not comfortably, then quietly Mrs. Lewis picked up the book and turned to the next chapter.

**Chapter 2**

**The Vanishing Glass**

Harry sighed, _the book would mention that day._

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets -**

Teddy snickered. _Beach ball!_

**— but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"Daddy, how come you don't have any pictures?" Albus frowned when his father didn't answer.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!"**

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

**"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"Geez, woman give him a minute! Let him breathe," mumbled Teddy under his breath.

"Teddy," reprimanded Harry lightly.

"Sorry, Dad," said Teddy. He didn't sound very sorry, but Harry decided to let it go.

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

**Harry groaned.**

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

**"Nothing, nothing …"**

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

Silence. Complete and total silence.

"_What the HELL!_" cried Mr. Roberts.

The Lewis' looked scandalized.

Ms. Green took a swig from the bottle of wine.

Teddy couldn't believe what he had just heard. _His dad had lived in a cupboard? What kind of sick people was he sitting amongst? _The thought burst from his mouth_," What is wrong with you people?"_

"Teddy, it's alright." Harry said tiredly.

_"No, Dad!"_ cried Teddy looking fierce._ "What kind of sick monsters are you?! You put a kid in a cupboard under the stairs?! Are you mental?! What did you just toss him under there after you plucked him off the stair?!"_

The Dursleys stared wide-eyed at Teddy lost for words.

Unbeknownst to Teddy, whose hair turned fire engine red in his state of complete fury, that was exactly Petunia had done. She hadn't wanted to gaze at those familiar bright green eyes knowing her sister was gone and why. She had never even gotten to apologize and it was all the fault of one Harry James Potter. Petunia didn't want those eyes looking at her questioning, not long after accusing. How to say she hated him for being just like her. How could she say that she had hated him for something he'd had no control over, how to say she was jealous that her sister, her sister, had loved him more. Died for that love. No she couldn't say it, wouldn't say. No one would understand.

Teddy was shouting a series of swears Harry was sure he'd learned from Ron. He and Ginny had been silent through there son's rage-filled questions, accusations, and vicious insults.

"Ted, that's enough now," said Harry gently. Teddy looked at him with tears of anger sparkling in his eyes. Harry picked the boy up and cradled him to his chest as he hadn't done since Teddy was a small child.

The boy kicked and struggled for a few moments then gave over. _"They're just so awful!" _Teddy sobbed into his shoulder.

Harry rubbed soothing circles into Teddy's back. The boy slowly calmed. He'd cried himself into a stupor. "Gin, I'm going to send him to the Burrow so Molly can make him a cup of warm milk laced with a bit of Calming Draught," said Harry. Ginny nodded and pulled out the pouch full of Floo powder.

Since Harry still had Teddy in his arms Ginny started the fire and tossed the powder in the grate so the flames roared emerald green.

No one spoke all the while this went on, the Dursleys even forgot to flinched as Ginny pulled out her wand.

"I'll be back in a bit, love," said Harry quietly. She reached up and brushed the hair from his eyes with gentle fingers, then leaned in to plant a kiss on Teddy's forehead who's hair was now a soft brown, his natural color.

"Take your time, darling," she told him.

He stepped into the warm flames and said,"The Burrow."

At the Burrow Molly Weasley was bustling about her kitchen making tea for a very pregnant Hermione.

She was about to force a third scone on the young woman when the kitchen fireplace roared up green to expel a tired looking Harry Potter with a small figure in his arms. She got up and quickly hurried over to him panic on her face.

"Harry dear, what's going on? What's wrong with Teddy?" her voice was slightly panicky.

"He'll be okay Molly, just over exerted himself," sighed Harry.

"But what happened, how do you over exert yourself from reading?"

"He found out about my old sleeping quarters," said Harry tiredly.

"Oh." said Molly sadly.

"I'm going to put him in Percy's room, Molly. I think a cup of warm milk and a Calming Draught will fix him up right. If after that he's feeling okay he can come back."

"Okay."

After tucking in his son, Harry had a short chat with Hermione. "The books are okay," said Harry. "But I'm worried giving these to the public will stir up anti-muggle attitudes with the way the Dursleys are behaving," he'd confided in Hermione.

"Oh Harry," said Hermione rubbing her sore back. This pregnancy was rather hard on her the baby was rather large. Thankfully she was due next month. "I'm sure it'll work out, things always manage to work out, don't they?"

"You're right Hermione," said Harry kissing her cheek and nicking the last scone from her plate.

"Of course I am, aren't I always?" she teased.

"Almost always," he teased back.

It had been a good hour since Harry had Flooed Teddy to the Burrow, and the occupants of Number Four Privet Drive sat in awkward silence.

Ginny was glaring at her manicured nails, the remaining children were glancing fearfully around at the adults not fully comprehending the gravity of the situation. The Lewis' and Mr. Roberts scowled in complete disgust, and Ms. Green was on her eighth glass of wine (Ginny had been refilling the bottle), and Vernon and Petunia were hunched on the sofa looking fearful. Dudley for his part was looking ashamed, Meredith seemed lost in thought.

After what seemed like a million years, Ginny spoke up, "Do you not realize what you could've done?" The question was quiet but the Dursleys flinched as if she had shouted.

"Do you understand what could've happened to you? I won't ask you to understand what could've happened to him, I know you don't care. But what about you could've done to the world?" each question and accusation was like a blow to Petunia's solar plexus.

"We just wanted it to stop, the magic, it wasn't right. It wasn't natural," mumbled Vernon. He was beginning to feel the smallest twinges of shame somewhere in the reaches of his tiny mind. Why had he continued with that method when it hadn't gotten the boy to stop? Had it ever worked? No, it hadn't.

"You can't make magic go away. It's apart of every magical being, it doesn't go away. You could've driven him mad, he could've killed you and/or himself. You only made the magic manifest itself further, it was the only line of defense he had against you people. Don't you see what you've done, might have doomed us all, he could've been like Tom Riddle bitter and resentful, lashing out. I'll never know how he turned out to be the beautiful man he is. You can't even understand what he's been through, how brave and self-sacrificing, what he's done for the world."

Ginny's voice died away gazing around at Vernon and Petunia with an expression close to pitying.

The Dursleys sat silent for their part, trying to take in what their guest had said.

Dudley, Meredith, and the neighbors shivered. Harry could've died or been driven mad from what they'd done, thought Dudley. _We could have broken him, he might have snapped and killed us all. We would have deserved it._

Harry returned a few hours later from the Burrow to find that Privet Drive was deathly still.

The Dursleys and their neighbors were all more silent then a churchyard. They did not look up, shriek, or flinch as he stumbled through the fireplace.

It took him stroking Ginny's cheek to get her to look at him, she hadn't answered to his prompt, "Sweetheart I'm back."

He told her Teddy would be fine, and that Hermione was coming as soon as Ron was done with work.

"Mrs. Lewis, I think we should continue reading if you're up to it," said Harry firmly. The woman startled for a moment, she took a breath which seemed to relax her then picked up the book.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.**

**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.**

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

Dudley smiled for the first time in a bit at his cousin's cheeky remark.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

Dudley sighed he had really been awful.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty … thirty …"**

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"I ... hic...am not quite...hic...um quite sssuuure how...hic hic...you m-mean age, I mean managed to make it too, I mean ...hic...through school!" slurred Ms. Green.

"My love, I believe we've all had enough wine for today," said Harry noticing where Ginny had refilled the bottle. Ginny flicked her wand vanishing the wine, and Dudley gave her an embarrassed smile.

Harry went over to Ms. Green to try and sober her up, and waved to Mrs. Lewis to keep reading.

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

**"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbies, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"I'm sure Arabella would love to know what you thought of her cats," said Ginny getting a bit of her snap back.

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

Marge who hadn't spoken in awhile stuck her nose in the air, No good lazy boy. Using magic for everything instead of working like decent people.

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

Petunia flinched, she hadn't thought he'd noticed. Just another one of her grievous mistakes.

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"**

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car. …"**

**"That cars new, he's not sitting in it alone. …"**

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

**"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

**"I … don't … want … him … t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mothers arms.**

"You know dear," said Meredith musingly. "I don't think I would have cared for you much back then."

Dudley blushed," No I don't suppose you would."

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

Nearly every adult, except Ginny and Harry, flinched at the mention of the cupboard.

**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly …"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

_Damn him_, thought Petunia. _Why did he have to be just like her?_

_*flashback*_

_It was spring and Marigold Evans wanted her daughters to get their hair trimmed._

_Petunia's hair didn't need much just some clipping to the ends. Lily however was getting her first haircut ever. At six her hair cascaded in waves to brush the backs of her knees. She wanted her hair to grow right down past the floor just like her favorite storybook princess Rapunzel._

_Mrs. Evans would have let her but seeing as how they now went through half a bottle of shampoo in her daily washing it was getting a little too expensive._

_Lily had of course worked herself into a fit, "I don't wanna cut my hair! I like it this way! If you cut it I'll die!" Lily had screamed all of this dramatically. Mrs. Evans simply told her that she wouldn't die and to get in the car. Lily sulked the whole way there hunching her little shoulders and pressing her cheek against the window._

_The nice lady at the salon had clipped and trimmed Lily's hair into shoulder length perfection. Lily wasn't happy, she had stomped her feet all the to the car. She'd slammed the door to her room when she got home. "I'm never coming out! Never! Never! Never!" she declared._

_She didn't come down for dinner or dessert. Finally their mother screamed up the stairs for her to come down and show her father her hair. He'd just got home from work._

_Lily had run down the stairs hair streaming behind her to hop in her father's arms. He caught her and set her down._

_Mrs. Evans and Petunia gaped, Lily's hair had grown right down to the floor, hitting her little black Mary Janes. "It grew back!" a smirking Lily announced to her awestruck family._

_It was year before they tried to cut it again._

_*end flashback*_

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).**

Ginny wrinkled her nose at the description of the awful sweater.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

**"… roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

**"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"No love, you get dangerous ideas all on your own," said Ginny.

"What are you talking about, Gin? I've never gotten dangerous ideas."

"So going after mass murders and slaying monsters isn't dangerous?"

"Nope."

The children looked at their parents light banter with giggles.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

"Harry, you make it sound like it was good. It was soupy soggy mess by the time Mum let you near it," said Dudley frowning.

Harry shrugged.

Ginny sighed.

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons.**

**Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

Dudley sighed, he knew what was coming next and it was of course his fault. Why didn't he just leave well enough alone?

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

_Poor kid,_ thought Mr. Roberts. _What kind of kid has more in common with a caged animal than their own family? Well at least he seems to have turned out okay_. He glanced at Harry who was laughing as he rubbed noses with his little girl, she squealed happily. His wife watched with a tender look on her face. Mr. Roberts turned away feeling intrusive on their family moment.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"You can talk to animals?" asked Ms. Green.

"No, not anymore,it used be just snakes, but now it's more interpretative body language" explained Harry.

"How come you can't do it anymore? Did you lose some of your powers?" asked Dudley realizing he was actually concerned.

"Not exactly, you'll find out later," said Harry.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

**"I get that all the time."**

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?"**

"I know you didn't know about magic yet love, but surely you thought that was a little odd?" asked Ginny. Though she usually had an extreme phobia of snakes, even she thought this conversation was a little bittersweet.

"Well..." said Harry rubbing his jaw.

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

"They really did overreact," said Harry.

The adults raised their eyebrows at him.

"Really Harry? A giant snake escaped from its tank, trying to get to Brazil, and we overreacted? Somehow I don't think so," said Dudley.

"Do you have any fear in you, young man?" asked Mr. Lewis.

"I fear different things," Harry replied solemnly.

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come. … Thanksss, amigo."**

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"Poor bastard," said Mr. Lewis, his wife smacked his arm.

"There are children here, Richard!"

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

But of course they starved him, thought Mr. Roberts coldly.

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

Ginny felt her heart twist and break for the small lonely boy that her husband had been.

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Who would like to read next?" asked Harry. He was deliberately waiting to read, he felt that if each person read for themselves it would make it that much more real to them.

"I think I will," said Mr. Lewis. "Pass it here please, Evelyn." Mrs. Lewis passed her husband the book.

"After this chapter I think we should break for dinner," came Petunia's voice which was uncharacteristically timid. Ginny and Harry supposed it was the after effects of the last chapter. They resettled themselves as Mr. Lewis opened the book.

**Chapter 3**

**The Letters From No One** read Mr. Lewis.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

Dudley shivered it was the dementor attack over again, all his faults laid out for him to see, but worse the world could here now.

"Old bat shouldn't have gotten in my son's way," muttered Vernon who like his wife appeared diminished, but was recovering from the last chapter.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.**

Ginny laughed. "Perfect logic darling."

Dudley wasn't sure if he should laugh or be insulted. Meredith made his decision for him, laughing as he joined her.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

Dudley frowned, "Harry I'm-"

"Dudley, finish that sentence and I'll hex you. We were kids and I've faced far worse than you," said Harry exasperatedly.

Dudley winced, not at Harry threatening to curse him, but knowing Harry had truly faced worse than a bullying child. He faced so much worse, Dudley wasn't quite sure how much worse but he was sure it was worse than him.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too.**

Dudley sighed he hadn't seen Piers in years.

**Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

James and Ginny laughed, the others smiled. Dudley sighed, he still didn't get it.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before.**

"I wouldn't be so fond of them anymore either," smiled Mr. Lewis, interrupting himself.

**She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

"Remus would've been scandalized, leaving chocolate untouched for so long," said Harry sadly. Ginny patted his arm.

"Would've?" asked Aunt Marge.

"Remus, Remus John Lupin was our eldest Teddy's biological father," said Ginny softly.

"He's just like his parents," said Harry. "All of Remus' thoughtfulness, Nymphadora's tenacity, and both of their penchants for mischief."

"That's so true, and Tonks would smack your face for calling her Nymphadora," Ginny laughed.

The others in the room looked on in a mixture of emotions, the Lewises bewilderment, Marge and Vernon irritation, Ms. Green and Meredith amusement, Mr. Roberts , Petunia, and Dudley a pitying sort of guilt.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

Harry had no such inclinations this time and laughed along with his family at the ridiculousness of the Smelting uniform.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

"What?" said Mr. Roberts.

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

**"Your new school uniform," she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

"Little savage weren't you?" commented Ms. Green

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"Oh my gods, they're actually making him get off his butt."

**"Make Harry get it."**

**"Get the mail, Harry."**

**"Make Dudley get it."**

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

Mr. Roberts sighed.

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — a letter for Harry.**

"Oooo, that's your Hogwarts letter isn't it Daddy?" asked Albus.

"Yes Al, it is," Harry smiled reaching over to ruffle the boy's hair.

"Daddy," complained Albus as he tried fruitlessly to flatten the shaggy mop that was his hair.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would?**

"Currently, everyone." Ginny answered the question with a hint of annoyance, the damned Ministry had her husband working double time currently.

**He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey**

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.**

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

"That's not funny," frowned James.

Vernon over and glared at the brat, quickly ceasing when Ginny looked over at him.

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk …"**

Harry tried not to let the vindictive smile show on his face, he really hated Marjorie Dursley. It wasn't that he hadn't tried but she had been so quick to believe Vernon's tales of how wretched he was, and took every turn to insult Harry and his parents whom she'd never met.

**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

Dudley was quickly becoming frustrated with the actions of his past self, he really had been a berk.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

"Arse," muttered Ginny.

**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

"Wow!" chirped Albus. "Can you do it again?!" he directed at Vernon who spluttered.

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!"**

Petunia frowned, this book made her sound like an over dramatic bitch.

_Over dramatic bitch_, thought Mrs. Lewis wickedly.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

**"I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."**

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

**"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"Did I ever tell you your temper is very attractive?" Ginny asked Harry.

"N-n-no," stuttered Harry pink in the face. Ten years of marriage and she could still reduce him to a stammering blushing mess. Well, he thought blushing further as Ginny looked him over suggestively, I'll never be bored.

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

**"Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer. … Yes, that's best … we won't do anything. …"**

**"But —"**

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

The adults, sans Vernon and Marge, shifted uneasily in their seats.

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

**"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

**"Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking … you're really getting a bit big for it … we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

**"Why?" said Harry.**

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't want him in there … I need that room … make him get out. …"**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

"Would it help if I said I was sorry," said Dudley. Harry again waved him off.

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —' "**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

**"Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"Damn it," cursed Ginny.

"What is it?" said Mr. Roberts concerned.

"Well, every time my dear, darling husband plots something it goes wrong," sighed Ginny.

"Hey not every time, sweet wife of mine," said Harry in a mock hurt voice.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door —**

**"AAAAARRRGH!"**

"What happened?" asked the children in unison.

"You'll see," said Harry trying not to laugh.

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something alive!**

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.**

Everyone except Vernon, even Marge, laughed raucously.

Harry smirked in his uncle's direction.

Vernon growled, glaring around the room at everyone.

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

**"I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

"You know, you are a horribly cruel man. Tearing a child's first letter to pieces," said Mr. Roberts harshly.

Vernon flinched back, the neighbors would never look at the family the same when all this was said and done.

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

"You're mad!" gasped Mr. Lewis.

"You're a little late on that front," came Ginny's sharp tongue.

Harry chuckled, he loved it when Ginny knocked someone down a notch.

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

**"Oh, these peoples minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"We're very thankful our minds work nothing like yours, Vernon," said Ginny laughing at the image of Vernon trying to hammer in a nail with cake.

Harry privately thought the cake would work just as well, Petunia was a lousy cook. He would have to take something for his stomach after dinner. He knew he would have never learned to cook if it hadn't been for the cook books his aunt kept.

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

"Persistent aren't you guys?" said Mr. Roberts.

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

James and Albus giggled. This man was weird.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"The world wants to speak to him, Dudley, the world wants and needs him," said Ginny.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today —"**

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one —**

"Daddy why didn't you just pick one up from the floor?" asked Albus.

Harry flushed,"I got kinda excited and didn't think."

**"Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut.**

"Surely that couldn't have hurt, it's only paper," an amused Mr. Roberts.

Petunia glared and Dudley snickered.

**They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

"That's a lot of mail," said Ms. Green in awe.

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue.**

Dudley and Harry laughed at the memory.

**Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.**

**"Shake 'em off … shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

Vernon realized he did sound a bit crazy at this point.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering. …**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

**" 'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

"Didn't you think it would be best to give up at this point?" asked a bemused Mr. Lewis.

Vernon didn't answer.

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

**"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.**

Dudley thought he should have realized the way they treated Harry was wrong right then, he sighed.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled.**

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

_Poor child_, thought Ms. Green, _can't even get excited about his own birthday._ She suspected that the only reason they bothered to remember his birthday at all was to register him for school and medical records.

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

"What on earth could that fool have bought?" Ginny murmured to Harry.

Harry chuckled. "You'll see."

Ginny frowned.

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.**

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

"What is your problem, do you not care about anyone's safety but your own? We already know you care nothing for Harry but what about your wife and son?" came the voice of a scandalized Mr. Roberts.

"How dare you?!" sneered Vernon.

He was studiously ignored by all.

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

Petunia shivered apparently at the memory. So dirty!

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.**

**"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

"Could you be more of an ass?" asked Ginny.

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

"You're so pessimistic, we're you always like that? I never noticed," said Dudley.

"Um...yeah pretty much," said Harry.

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

Dudley sighed, he could have scooted over on the couch or given Harry some of his blankets.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger.**

_Poor Daddy,_ thought Albus.

**Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

"Doubt you would be warmer, and I don't think you'd be able to sneak a letter past them," said Ms. Green.

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

"I hope the rock isn't crumbling," said Ginny.

"Nope," said Harry happily. "It's something much better, well someone."

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds … twenty … ten … nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him — three … two … one …**

"Wish you had," mumbled James.

Harry rolled his eyes at James.

**BOOM.**

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"That's a knock? Sounds more like an explosion," said Mrs. Lewis.


	5. Chapter 5

Dinner was a mostly quiet affair. Between the absence of Teddy and what the book had revealed so far no one felt like speaking much.

The only mishap was Lily levitating her spoons in order to feed herself. " I wanted to do it myself Daddy."

Harry sighed and explained that it wasn't polite to use magic on someone else's property. He wiped the little girl's cheeks and carefully rubbed the mashed parsnip from her curls.

Vernon, Marge, and Petunia had glared all the while, but the others found the scene endearing. Dudley especially found the moment between Harry and his child sweet, he'd never pictured Harry with a wife and children. Then it hit Dudley like a ton of bricks, even after all the changes he'd made he still had a bit of prejudice left in him. He hd never been able to picture anyone capable of loving his cousin, he had simply thought of witches and wizards as fighters. People who kept all the bad stuff from reaching "normal" people, he never really thought they did anything other than fight monsters and evil. Well, thought Dudley, even Superman loved Lois Lane.

After Petunia stiffly refused Ginny and Harry's offer to help clean, she cleared everything away. They all went back to the den and feeling more comfortable after the meal they sat down.

"If you don't mind everyone I think I'll keep reading " said Mr. Lewis "I've become curious."

**The Keeper Of The Keys**

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.**

**"Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

"There's no canons in there Mister Dudley," giggled Albus.

Dudley blinked at the mini Harry. "You can just call me Dudley."

"Kay!" piped Albus.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands — now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

"_A gun! You brought a gun! _There are two small children in that godforsaken place! Madness complete utter _madness_!" cried Mr. Roberts. He was quite fed up with the lunacy of the Dursley family.

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!"**

The Lewises shook their heads sighing.

**There was a pause. Then —**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

"Wow!" said James.

"No. You and your cousins will not smash down any doors, do you understand me James Sirius Potter?" said Harry sternly.

"Yes Da," said James meekly, properly chastened. Harry patted the child's head and motioned for Mr. Lewis to continue.

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

Mrs. Lewis again sniffed snootily at the description, such a man would never be allowed in her home.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey. …"**

Harry and Ginny laughed it was such a Hagrid thing to say.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

Dudley twitched a little and resisted the urge to cover his backside.

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

"Giants are REAL?" asked Mr. Roberts sounding scared.

"Well yes, but he's only half and a very sweet man," said Ginny comfortingly, patting his arm.

Mr. Roberts didn't like to think how big a full-blooded giant might be.

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes."**

"First time I ever heard that," said Harry softly.

"Heard what?" snapped Marge.

"That I have my mother's eyes."

Petunia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. _So many mistakes, too late to fix it now. Lily I'm so sorry._

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

"I did no such, boy," Vernon hissed.

Harry simply raised one dark brow at at his uncle.

**"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

"As if Hagrid would listen to you," Ginny said.

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

Ginny smirked.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

Vernon did not bother to respond this time.

**"Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

"He breaks down your door, tells off your relatives, and hands you a cake? All without introducing himself first?" said a bemused Mr. Roberts.

Harry chuckled. "He's not done yet."

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

**The giant chuckled.**

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

"I just realized that's the bloke from the first chapter!" exclaimed Mr. Lewis.

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

"Hagrid doesn't know his own strength," said James.

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful,**

"Wow Harry, you must have been hungry to call Hagrid's cooking wonderful," said Ginny.

**but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."**

**"Er — no," said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"**

**"All what?" asked Harry.**

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"**

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."**

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?"**

"That is in my top ten of the most confusing conversations I've ever had," said Harry.

"That must have been so frustrating for you, love. I know how you hate secrets," smirked Ginny.

The Dursleys sighed collectively, Harry Potter lived with them for nearly two decades and they barely knew the man.

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

**"But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

**"What? My — my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

"You didn't like being famous from day one, you actually ignored all mentions of your own fame and skipped to your parents notoriety," said Ginny.

"You know I hate attention," said Harry.

**"Yeh don' know … yeh don' know …" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"This is all very melodramatic," singsonged Meredith.

**"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry — yer a wizard."**

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**"I'm a what?" gasped Harry.**

Ginny fell over into Harry's lap shaking with laughter. "Harry you can't have seriously said that!"

Harry blushed as his wife resettled herself into his lap.

"Well it was different for me, you've always known about your powers. As far as I knew there was no such thing as magic," said Harry toying with a lock of hair that escaped the knot at the base of her neck.

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL**

**of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,**

**Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl — a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**

**Given Harry his letter.**

**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**

**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**

**Hagrid**

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

"So, you use owls for your post?" asked Ms. Green

"Not quite as much anymore, now we use mobile phones and computers. We usually use owl post to send letters to places without electricity, like Hogwarts and some of the older houses," said Ginny.

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

James and Albus snickered.

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

**"He's not going," he said.**

**Hagrid grunted.**

**"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

The muggles all flinched at "stamp it out of him" now that they knew what could have happened, how dangerous it was to try and stop magic.

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a — a wizard?"**

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that school — and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

No one noticed the tears in the eyes of Petunia Dursley as a her stomach twisted with guilt and regret.

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as — abnormal — and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

SMACK!

Ginny had risen out so quickly from her seat that not even Harry noticed her move.

"How could you tell him that way?! He was just a little boy!" Ginny slapped Petunia across the face hard enough to leave a pink handprint on her cheek.

Vernon stood to loom over her, " You little-"

Harry pointed his wand at Vernon,"Touch my wife and when I'm finished with you, you'll wish I'd killed you." Harry's voice had gone dangerously soft and the room felt inexplicably freezing. Vernon reared back from Ginerva Potter and the wand aimed at his heart.

"Ginny I know you're angry, but that boy under the stairs died a lifetime ago. Maybe it's best if you go check on Ted 'til Ron and Hermione get here," said Harry his voice warming as he looked at his wife.

The children looked scared.

"No, I'm fine," she said quietly. Ginny kissed his cheek and handed him Lily. She walked back to the icky pink love seat. "I'm not sorry," she said over her shoulder to Petunia.

Petunia Dursley stepped forward as the younger woman passed,"You shouldn't be sorry, you have every right to hate me," she murmured not sure if the other woman heard as she sat down.

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

"Why, what did you do?" asked Dudley.

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it. …"**

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —"**

**"Who?"**

**"Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

**"Why not?"**

"Yes why it's just a name?" asked Mrs. Lewis

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went … bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was …"**

Every non-magical person leaned forward in anticipation.

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

They all looked frustrated. _Spit it out already_, was the collective thought. They'd forgotten they already knew his name.

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

**"Nah — can't spell it. All right — Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches … terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day!**

"Still not sure how Dad made Head Boy," said Harry wryly.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

**Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before … probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em … maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —"**

Petunia's heart twisted.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anyway …**

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts — an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

"What an awful thing for a child to remember," said Mrs. Lewis who had soften a bit towards Harry. She was now genuinely interested in this story, not just the lies of Petunia Dursley.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot …"**

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured — and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion — asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end —"**

Vernon stopped glaring at the Potter woman for a moment, the way this was read made him sound cruel. He wasn't cruel, he was just a man protecting his family. He wouldn't treat anyone else like this after all, no one else was as dangerous as the boy.

Vernon didn't know just how right he was. Harry Potter was indeed the most dangerous man alive.

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word …"**

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

_Of course he backed off, _thought Mr. Roberts_, most reasonable people do. Then again Vernon isn't a reasonable person._

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see … he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go?**

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die.**

"What does he mean not human enough to die?" asked Mr. Lewis looking frightened.

"Well Tom is far beyond the reaches of 'usual evil'. He would have done any and everything to evade death, including losing his humanity. And he did just that," Harry solemnly replied.

"But how do you lose your humanity?" asked Mr. Roberts.

"The usual, willful participation in torture, murder etc." said Harry a little more coldly than he meant.

"Rape as well?" asked Meredith.

"Well yes, I suppose so. Tom himself would have thought it weak to have 'baser needs' so sexuality and sexual crimes he'd have considered beneath him. His desires were control and immortality. However his followers were most definitely not above such personal cruelties," Harry quietly admitted. The rest of the room looked sick.

Ginny shivered, the Carrows had truly not been above such things. She had had near misses, but she had never been a victim of Amycus Carrow's special detentions; though she'd known girls who had known as Harry put it personal cruelties.

**Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — I dunno what it was, no one does — but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it … every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry … chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach … dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back … and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled—"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER —" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!"**

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley — there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

Dudley flinched and just managed to run his hands over his now tail-free rear end.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job —"**

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

"And so the flood of my husband's never ending, world moving, down right dangerous curiosity begins," said Ginny.

"World moving?" queried Harry. He quirked a raven brow in Ginny's direction.

His wife just smiled.

"**Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

**"Why were you expelled?"**

Ginny tensed momentarily in Harry's arms, but relaxed when she felt him squeeze her waist. Poor Hagrid, it was still all her fault.

"**It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**

"At least you're warm now," said Meredith.


End file.
